Proof Real Estate Works

[Dietrich Gale]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Albuquerque.

Purchase price: $150,000
Cash invested: $12,000

Originally an owner occupied VA loan. My wife and I bought it as a primary home and kept it when moving to CA. Time, and a refinance when the market crashed, helped turn it into a cash positive investment. I came up with an estimate of how much we put into it by adding the mortgage payments we made as well as the negative cash flow we ate for a few years.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Real estate agent.

How did you finance this deal?

VA loan.

How did you add value to the deal?

Waited. And realized the because we had no down payment, it was essentially a free house.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

The negative initial cash flow, poor timing; combined with the current state of the house's financials made me realize how powerful real estate investing is.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

My agent, not so much...

BUT

Network Realty, owned by Robbie Childs, is an outstanding management company. One bad tenant, and a few other minor issues, all handled by Robbie and her team with professionalism and punctuality. They have been awesome.